RANGERS Under-19s began their Glasgow Cup campaign with a confident 3-1 victory over Partick Thistle at the Rangers Training Centre this evening.
The young Gers were propelled by a brace from Josh Gentles and a wonderful first-half strike from Luca Rankin as a third competition in the side’s calendar this season got up and running.
Rankin began the scoring just beyond the half-hour mark when he stroked home from 20 yards, before Gentles got his rewards for his endeavour on the evening after the interval with a pair of fantastic strikes amid torrential rain.
Malky Thomson named seven changes to his side from last week's KDM Evolution Trophy victory, with brothers Zander and Ben Hutton given the nod from the off.
The game began at a frenetic pace as the two teams sought to find sharpness, with Gentles almost profiting on a slack back pass while Sam Reid produced a fantastic save in similar circumstances down the opposite end to repel Thomas Horn.
A nice move from the young Gers pierced Thistle open down the right-hand side, with Zander Hutton’s pull-back falling into the path of Cameron Fernie, on the scoresheet recently against Hearts in league action, whose effort was deflected comfortably into the arms of the goalkeeper.
Down the other flank, Arran Kerr burst menacingly down the left-hand side and picked out Gentles inside the penalty area. When the forward was denied from close-range, Fergusson was on hand to fire the rebound goalwards, but he was thwarted once again by the Thistle goalkeeper springing up quickly to his left.
Gentles then pinched possession just inside the visitors’ half and raced towards goal with only the goalkeeper to beat, but Connor Storey stood tall to stifle the forward as he looked to round him and slot into an empty net.
Rangers were certainly aggressive in stifling Thistle’s attempts to build from deep as Fergusson was presented with a gift inside the penalty area but could only steer an effort straight at the Thistle goalkeeper.
However, it mattered little as the young Gers broke open the contest just beyond the half-hour mark.
The move was engineered by Zander Hutton down the right, who neatly skipped inside and laid a pass into Rankin lurking at the edge of the penalty area. The 16-year-old strode onto the ball first-time, caressing an inch-perfect finish into the bottom corner and out of the reach of the goalkeeper.
Despite Rangers’ undoubted authority, the away side passed up a golden opportunity to level on the stroke of the half-time interval when Horn manufactured space inside a congested penalty area and wrapped a finish just inches wide of the target.
The second period began with the hosts in the ascendancy, and they soon doubled their advantage just five minutes after the interval.
Cameron Fernie was the architect down the left-hand side as he drifted inside, picking out Gentles on the edge of the penalty area and the 18-year-old curled a terrific finish low into the far corner.
The away side engineered a nice move on the hour-mark which threatened to reduce the arrears, but not for the first time in the evening, Sam Reid was quick off his goalline to produce an impressive save down low.
It proved pivotal as, just moments later, Gentles was sent through by Zebedee Lawson over the top of the defence and from a tight angle the forward dispatched a confident dink into the roof of the net for his second of the evening.
Thistle eventually found a way through in the dying embers when the excellent Reid finally had to pick the ball out of his net from close-range, but it was nothing more than a consolation as the young Gers celebrated their first three points of the group stage.
RANGERS: S. Reid, Z. Hutton (Wark, 60), J. Reid, Owen (Ngwenya, 65), Kerr, B. Hutton, Fernie, Rankin, Lawson (Owoyomi, 71), Fergusson (Young 60), Gentles (Hall, 71)
Subs not used: Millarvie, Patton
PARTICK THISTLE: Storey, Rooney, Low, Allan, Waddell, Murray, O’Brien, Docherty, Horn, Falconer, Miller
Subs: Sloan, Stanway, Watson, Urse, Campbell, McCormick, Fisher
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